There were two football programmes on tonight - Granada Soccer Night and John Barnes Football Night on Five. I flicked between the two. Amoruso was the guest on Granada Soccer Night and he said that he didn't know who the new manager would be, but he suspected it would be someone British who had a feel for Blackburn as a club. He was asked specifically about Advocaat and Amo said that he was a good coach but treated his players like kids sometimes. He looked like it may be a problem for him if Advocaat was appointed. On Five the guests were journalist Henry Winter (who I've got a lot of time for) and Carlton Palmer. Palmer didn't think Souness would do very well at Newcastle and, when asked, Winter said that he thought Rovers were after Mark Hughes for the managers job. Both Palmer and Winter said they thought Hughes would do very well.

I hope Mr Nixon's right. Flitcroft and Ferguson is our best central midfield combination imo, especially away from home.

John Gregory wouldn't be the worst appointment in the world.

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Tris, do you actually know that there wasn't a fall out? Or is that just your interpretation of the events?

I reckon this is Jim seeing if he can get Brownie to bet on another manager.

Surely we're not going for Keegan?

I'd heard from a reliable source that before Souness's departure he had also managed to fall out with Gallagher. Gally's crime? The heinous crime of stating that he wanted to start more games this season. All allegedly of course. But Tris knows Revidge. Shame on you for doubting him.

Haha To be fair, I think Den came up with it first.

Interesting. Well, they're not going to be Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho, Bruce, Souness, O'Leary, McLaren, Wigley, Keegan, SteBenetiz or Santini. So that leaves 3 from Allardyce, Moyes, Worthington, Curbishley, Megson, Dowie, Coleman or Redknapp. Most of those would be ok by me.

No. If we get Hughes then I suspect he'll still be the Wales manager part-time until the 2006 World Cup. Strachan just seems to be the obvious choice for me. I guess it depends on whether he wants it though.

Dowie good, McCarthy bad.

Why do you do it to yourself Brownie?

Not that I'm doubting you but how do you know that?

You've made the mistake of criticising Souness Den. American doesn't like that.

It seems the knives are out for Souness in some sections of the media. Mirror Link

Perhaps there's a slight whiff of coruption in the move. Guardian Link

There's no doubt that the board would have discussed possible replacements for Souness in the past. The trick is getting them to the club. I'd be surprised if any of them had already been lined up though.

This appointment is absolutely vital as it's imperative that we keep our Premiership place. We've seen what can happen to clubs that get relegated and we don't want to go there. We'll probably struggle to attract a top foreign coach and even if we did, I'm not sure that's what we need right now. We also probably can't afford to poach a manager already in work. So, we need someone who can coach the players well (or appoint a coach who can), who can wheel and deal in the transfer market - both home and abroad - without spending too much money, and someone who is tactically astute and can eek points out of games where were not at our best. There aren't many managers about who can do all that, but I believe Strachan is one of them. He's shown in the past that he's decent in the transfer market, he's certainly a better coach and tactician than Souness, and he seems keen to continue learning. He'd be my first choice. After Strachan there isn't really anyone else who's got the necessary experience and fulfills the above criteria - so anyone else would be a gamble. But if we're going to gamble I'd rather do it on a young, up-and-coming, hungry manager rather than anyone who's failed in the past. Newell, Hughes, Dowie, Peter Jackson and Paul Jewell are all worthy of consideration imo. I'd be devastated if we appointed any of Graham, Reid, Houllier or Venables and throwing untried managers like Shearer or Short into the job is just silly. Strachan for me please.

Ah well, if there's no doubt about it I stand corrected.

The same Given who has consistently been one of the best keepers in the Premiership year on year?

Are you going to start a new thread for every candidate?

Is there anyone in the world you would be happy with Bryan or are you just moaning for the sake of it?

I've been very anti-Souness on this board over the last six to eight months so I'm obviously quite pleased about the news today. I think his leaving is the best thing for the club, as I could only see the club going one way if he'd stayed much longer. However, you cannot overlook the fact that he did a brilliant job for three years and deserves a lot of credit for that. He took over a mid-table first division team of over-paid, lazy players who lacked passion, heart and committment to the club. Souness turned the club around within a year, getting rid of the deadwood and building an exciting, young, extremely talented team that ended up running away with promotion to the Premiership. His first year in the top flight was a struggle but the mid-season signing of Andy Cole turned things around. Safety was comfortably secured in the end and we all had a fantastic day out at Cardiff to boot. It was a remarkable achievement by Souness and his staff to win a cup and gain European qualification just over two years after taking over the job. The next season saw us playing some of the most exciting football I've ever seen at Ewood. Players like Dunn, Duff, Gillespie, Tugay, Cole and Jansen were all quality performers (some more consistently than others!) and the team had a style and confidence about it that was particularly attractive to watch. We feared no-one and our eventual 6th place finish, and subsequent UEFA Cup place, was just reward for the efforts of the team and manager. Then it all started to go wrong. The sale of Duff that summer was the start of the decline. Souness seemed not to realise the impact Duff's departure would have on the club and, although the manager spent the Duff money on good players, his failure to sign a left-sided replacement was a huge mistake imo. Selling the likes of Dunn and Gillespie didn't bother me much at the time but, in hindsight, perhaps too many of the flair players were released at the same time. As a result, the team lacked penetration and creativity throughout last season. As results started to get worse Souness seemed to panic. Strange tactics, bizarre line-ups and baffling substitutions became the norm as the manager seemed to lose the plot. The team, and Souness I suspect, were saved by the inspirational January signing of Jon Stead. Even Souness couldn't have expected the impact the young striker would make on the team as his goals helped us to eek out enough points to reach safety. This summer saw the sale of Cole, our best player imo, but no real top quality signings that would change the team's fortunes around. In the first couple of games this season Souness seemed to abandon his attacking principles, opting instead for dour, defensive line-ups, even at home to the likes of West Brom. There was no evidence at all that the manager had learnt from last season's mistakes and no signs that the club's fortunes were likely to improve. We'll never know for sure now but I suspect we were going down if Souness had stayed much longer. Souness was great for the PR of the club, his transfer dealings were, by and large, good, and his first three years at the club must rank as some of the most successful in the modern era by any Rovers manager. However, the frequent fall-out with players, the lack of tactical nous, the suspicion that the training wasn't as good as it could be, and the increasingly baffling line-ups and substitiutions mean he will not be missed - at least not by me anyway. Thanks for memories Souness but I'm glad you've gone.

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